U.S. Pat. No. 6,521,622 B1 and U.S. application Ser. No. 61/747,723 describe inter alia certain heterocyclic aromatic amide compounds of general Formula
and their use as fungicides.
These disclosures also describe the preparation of 4-alkoxy-3-hydroxypicolinic acids and derivatives thereof as key intermediates in the preparation of these heterocyclic aromatic amide compounds. It would be useful to have an efficient and scalable process route to 4-alkoxy-3-hydroxypicolinic acids from inexpensive raw materials.